Page 28 of Sweet Possession

Entering my room, I drop down in my chair and fire up my laptop to find my lesson plan and syllabus. All the students are in homeroom for the next fifteen minute, and after, classes will start, so I need to be prepared. I’m one of the lucky teachers here that doesn’t have a homeroom. It means I have a chance to get settled in… and track my girl.

Not that I don’t know where she is. But it doesn’t hurt to check the tracker I set up on her cell. I’m aware that I am reverting back to my stalker ways when it comes to Remi, but I can’t help it. We’ve been in our own little world these last couple of weeks where she has always been in my line of sight, and now she isn’t. It makes me edgy.

Pulling my phone out of my pants, I pull up the app and press down on her name. I smile when I find that my angel is exactly where I expected her to be—in the homeroom she was assigned to. I know I’m probably being over the top with this, but I have my reasons. I know my angel isn’t Cali, but I can’t say that what happened there hasn’t made me insecure, because it has. I also know what teenage boys are like. I was one, once. I know how they react when they see a girl like Remi. And over my dead body will I let anyone take her away from me.

Blowing out a breath, I drop my cell on the desk and lean back in my chair. I should get ahold of myself, but I can’t help but think something bad will happen. That someone will take what’s mine. I sit there deep in thought until the bell rings and students descend into the room. I know my angel’s schedule; she has classes with me three times a week. Today is one of them, but not until this afternoon. My skin itches with the need to see her. To touch her and make sure she’s okay and settling in. But I won’t have the chance now. Instead, I settle in for an hour of mathematics with my first class of the day.

* * *

It's lunchtime, and I still haven’t seen my angel. To say I’m irritable would be an understatement. I’m sauntering down the hallway towards the cafeteria when I’m stopped dead in my tracks by someone stepping in front of me. My eyes narrow, and anger surges through me.

Brody.

“I thought I told you to resign,” I bark.

Brody’s lips curve into a grin, and I want to punch him in his smug face. “I didn’t,” he states coolly.

“I fucking see that,” I snap as I drill him with a look that would make most men cower. But not my ex-best friend. No, he just smiles wider.

“Look, I want us to get along. We’re colleagues again now, Ash, and you can’t avoid me when we work in the same school. We need to put…” he trails off as if searching for the right words, “everything that happened behind us, where it belongs, so we can move forward from this.”

“Resign,” I grit out. This fucker has some nerve imposing on my life after what he did.

“No. Get used to it, Ash. I’m not going anywhere.” He pins me with a look before walking away. I glare after him for a beat and then remember where I was going before Brody interrupted me.

My angel.

I need to see her.

Check that she is okay.

I start towards my destination at a fast walk. My heart is racing in my chest, and there is only one person who can calm me at just the sight of her. I need to lay my eyes on her, and everything will be okay. I know my obsession with Remi is unhealthy and borderline crazy, but I don’t care. She makes me feel good. Relaxes me in a way that no one else can.

Pushing through the doors, I’m aware I look unhinged. My eyes dart around the large room that’s filled with chattering teenagers, searching for my girl. Just when I think she’s not in here, my gaze lands on her, and all the tension immediately leaves my body. She sits at a table near the back with Jessa Thompson, another scholarship kid. Remi smiles at something Jessa says before she pauses and, as if sensing me, glances over her shoulder. Her gaze meets mine, a shy smile curving her perfect, full lips. My breath hitches. She is exquisite. We stare at each other for a long moment, only for it to be broken when that fucker, Logan Carrington, steps up to the table.

My angel looks at him with a tight smile as she says something. He laughs off whatever she said, and his hand lands on her shoulder. I see red. I move forward before I can stop myself and am halfway across the room without a single thought of the consequences of me breaking his hand. How dare he touch what’s mine. My fists ball, jaw clenches. And then I stop when movement catches my attention.

I stop because my girl is out of her seat, walking towards me as that fucker shouts her name. She ignores him and it makes some of the haze in my head clear. I spin and move back towards the doors I just came through. I don’t look back, but I feel her behind me. I hear her footsteps as we walk down the deserted hall and move towards my classroom. She follows me inside and I turn, shutting the door and clicking the lock into place.

“What’s wrong?” Her soft voice has a breath whooshing out of me and I instantly calm. This is what I needed. Her in my space. Just me and her. Again, I have the urge to quit my job and ask my angel to study online so we can live in our own little world all the time. But I know that’s not healthy, and it’s not fair to Remi after all the hard work she put in to win this scholarship.

I step up to her, cupping her cheeks. “Nothing. I just wanted to see you.” I press my lips to hers for a chaste kiss, breaking it when she stiffens. I frown. “Why did you tense?”

My angel sighs, her long lashes fanning her cheeks when they close. “We shouldn’t be doing this in here. What if we get caught?”

Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her close to me, dropping a kiss in her hair and then nuzzling her neck. “We won’t, angel. I locked the door. I would never put you at risk,” I murmur into ear.

She shivers. I love how she reacts to me. “I know. I just worry. And not just about me.”

I pull her closer to my chest, wishing with everything in me that I could keep her in my arms where I know she’s safe. If I could set up a home inside me for her, I would. A place no one could hurt her or take her away from me. “I don’t want you to worry about anything. Everything will be okay.”

But even as I say the words, I know I’m making a promise I might not be able to keep. The truth is, I have no idea if everything will be okay. I know there’s a chance we could get caught. And now that Brody is here to stay, the chances of that happening are even higher.

ChapterTwenty

REMI

My first week at school is finished. It’s been an experience, that’s for sure. I made a friend, Jessa, another scholarship student, who told me she was a loner until I came along. I wasn’t bothered about making friends, but I’m happy I found her. Someone to talk to and sit with at lunch. Someone to stand by my side when the popular girls are bitches. I knew there would be mean girls and entitled rich kids, but Coral Lakes has them in droves. I’ve been dubbed an outcast by the queen bee, her wrath made even worse by the fact I’ve caught the captain of the football team’s attention.